Oct 19thDevotion John 8:21-30 Focus On The Narrow Gate

John 8:21-30 –   Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” 25 Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I even been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to say and to judge regarding you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I say to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He was speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He said these things, many came to believe in Him.

“Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.””  Most of us know that Jesus was speaking of His death, resurrection and ascension.  What should have been ominous to all who He was speaking to, including all of us (via Holy Scriptures) was that most of them, and those in the succeeding ages, will not be able to go where He is going to.  And His hour is quickly coming and He will be going to His Father, from whom He came.  And our hour, our time of existence here on earth, is soon coming and our spiritual status at the day and hour, will remain forever.

Notice that Jesus does not say that they will die in their sins. (As He said these things, many came to believe in Him. (V21)  He specifically said that they will die in their sin, one specific sin.  In V24 Jesus told them that that unless they believe that He is the “I AM,” egō eimi, the one sin of not believing in Jesus, the one can keep a person out of eternal life is to not believe that Jesus is the great I AM of Exodus 3:14. To not believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord is to not believe either the words and signs of the Father or His Son.  On those who do not believe the wrath of God that all people, when born in to this world, inherit remains upon them. (John 3:18, 3:36) Be sure that Satan does not care what religion or philosophy a man adheres to as long it is not that Jesus is the Savior and Master of the world.  Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”

In V24 Jesus twice warned them about dying in their sins, plural sins not singular sin as before.  When he spoke of dying in their sins He was talking about all their sins, including rejecting Him as Savior and Lord.  He was letting them know that not only would they suffer for rejecting Jesus but they would suffer for all the sins they have committed in their lives.  Sins that could have been placed on Jesus and paid for on the Cross, but instead they would have paid for.  They knew about hell, they knew what it meant.  Jesus warned them, and He was warning us, to be sure to live as His obedient loving servant or live eternity in horror forever.      

“So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”  Jesus was telling them that they could not go to be with the Father and Him forever because they would not believe in Him and live for Him here on earth.  They would not put their faith in Him and we know that those who do not have saving faith in Jesus will not have eternal life.  (Romans 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-9) All who reject Jesus on earth shall not live with Him and the Father through eternity.  Jesus was going to be with His Father and they could not go with Him because they did not love His Son. (John 17:3)

The authorities were so blind that they had no conception that they were not worthy to follow where Jesus would go.  They were so self-righteous that they thought they needed no Savior to save them from their sin.  Pride kills in eternal ways, then and now.

“And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”  They needed to quit thinking as the world thinks, but to receive and worship God spiritually.  The times had changed so that all must worship in spirit and truth.  (John 4:23)

“Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I even been saying to you from the beginning?”  Jesus told them, in our vernacular “I am what I have been telling you from the beginning that I am.  When they are asking Him “Who are you?” they were basically telling Jesus.  Who are you that we should listen to you?  Again we see how prideful and arrogant they were.  Who is He that they, they their own heroes should listen to Him?  Terrifying.

Sadly, they were not listening to Him, they were not believing what He had been telling them all along.  He is the one sent as Savior to the world to redeem all who would come back to the Father.  As the prologue to this Gospel has stated Jesus was God with the Father and had always been with God.  Sadly the darkness did not grasp the Light of the World that came to save the world. (John 1:1-5)

“So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me.”  It will be clear that Jesus lived as the Father instructed Him when He is lifted up to be crucified on the Cross.  Then people will come to believe.  At the center of our salvation is the cross that Jesus was crucified upon and upon His resurrection after being murdered on the cross.  There He bore our sins.  That is why we must bring all who would come to salvation to the cross and let them gaze upon it, and to the empty tomb.

“And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”  The Father was a good Father to Jesus.  The perfect example of Fatherhood.  Jesus emulated the Father in His love to us.  Now we must emulate Jesus and be an example who Jesus was.  There is no higher calling than to live as Jesus lived.

“As He said these things, many came to believe in Him.”  While it is true (as Jesus said) the gate (Jesus) to eternal life is narrow, we must always remember that the gate still exists.  Not all Jews rejected Jesus then, not all Jews reject Him now, and not all unbelievers stay unbelievers.  I am proof of that, as are many of you, praise God!

Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear me. 

Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, Oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

Numbers 6:24-26 – The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.